Can Web 2.0 change the world?

Michael Rogers Columnist • Profile • E-mail

One of the more influential technology conferences of the year took place two weeks ago in Silicon Valley, but you saw hardly a word about it in the mainstream media. 

Perhaps that’s because it lacked the sizzle of newly-rich entrepreneurs and venture capitalist king-makers — but what it lacked in glitter it made up for in world-changing potential.

NetSquared was a gathering of some 370 philanthropists, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, humanitarian services and charities—along with technology companies and assorted digerati — discussing how the much-touted Web 2.0 technology could be harnessed for social change.

Web 2.0 is the term Web maven Tim O’Reilly gave to the collection of user-oriented technologies (tagging, ranking, pointing, self-publishing and so on) that have spawned sites like MySpace, Digg, YouTube and countless competitors.

Yet even as some of these sites grow enormous, doubts have emerged in the venture capital community as to whether many of these ideas can actually turn into long-term, profitable businesses.

Compounding the difficulty is that building a Web 2.0 site is both easy and cheap, reducing the “barriers to entry” that usually keep competitors away. Some VCs now say that using Web 2.0 in your funding pitch is the quickest way to get thrown out of the office.

But in the not-for-profit world, Web 2.0 tools look like the biggest boost since the invention of the personal computer itself. “Information technology,” says NetSquared founder Daniel Ben-Horin, “is moving away from what nonprofits have the least of (money) and toward what we have the most of (people and community). Web 2.0 is a buzzword that may not last, but the social Web will, and what we’re seeing now is just the beginning.”

And Ben-Horin knows the territory: nearly 20 years ago the former journalist launched an organization called CompuMentor, aimed at helping other non-profits adopt computers. Now, the organization has 120 staffers, a $13.5 million annual budget and through its subsidiary TechSoup has distributed free or low-cost hardware and software to more than 50,000 nonprofits, saving that sector more than $400 million.

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